My Yellow tang seems to have gone blind

[eclipseagent]

The morning after a water change I feed the my fish there normal flakes.
I sit and watch them every morning.
But today (the day after my first water change) my yellow tang went to swim for a flake and the idiot totally missed. He tried again and bamm he got it. But on EVERY flake he missed 1 or 2 times. He has NEVER done that before. He also seemed slow to see the flakes.
I think that the SALINITY is a little low. But would that cause him to seem blind? I will be adding salt today.
The tank is a 29G, 40Lbs LS, 15LR, a dottyback and the yellow tang. I have a tetratec PFH300 filter w/ heater.
I also changed the filters yesterday (now that I think of it I should have kept the old filters in so that the water would have adjusted quicker).
So what can cause my yellow tang to seem blind? He was fine yesterday

 

[beth]

What do you mean you'll be "adding salt today"? Hopefully, you will not add salt directly to the main tank. Salt must be well mixed at least 48hrs prior to additing it to a tank that contain organisms.
Also, "flaked foods" are a poor choice for tangs [and most any fish as a diet mainstay]. Tangs need a good variety of foods, preferably fresh foods. A good proportion should be be vegetarian, such as seaweed selects.
What are your water readings? How are you doing water changes? What is the salinity at this point?

 

[eclipseagent]

Oops I think I should have been a little more detailed.
I do mix the salt in a bucket with current tank water and let it sit for a while (not 48 hours though). I dont put it in until ALL the salt is dissolved.
I do feed my tang lettice and other fresh foods but he really really likes the marine neon flake things I put in (usually for the dottyback)
My readings are at home but I think I know them humm...
My ammonia is about .00138
Nitrite is uh pretty low (damn near 0ppm but I forget I will look in my journal at home)
Nitrate is about the same as nitrite
When I do water changes I take water out. Pour it in the bath tub and watch it go down the drain. I then fill up the bucket with water (really close to the same temp which is 76)
The salinity is 1.200 right now I believe again that is in the journal.
Would the low salinity cause him to not see right.

 

[beth]

Everything that you mention above will cause stress in fish. The symptoms you are seeing in the tang does not necessarily mean than that the fish is blind.
Any fish subjected to any level of ammonia and nitrite will be stressed, and could even die. Why do you have ammonia and nitrites? Is this a new tank?
The fashion in which you are doing water changes is totally unacceptable [unless you left something out??].
You need to aerate mixed salt water for 48 hrs, min. You can't just mix up tap water then dump it in the tank.
Regardless if the fish likes the flakes or not, that is not a good diet choice for this fish. And, neither is lettuce. Get SeaWeed Selects, or, Nori from the Oriental section of the grocery store. Offer the fish other foods besides flakes.
Why is your salinity so low?

 

[eclipseagent]

Ahh your mean. JK
Thanks for being honest.
Why is the lettace bad? I have heard that is their fav. He loves it. He tears it up.
What should I feed the dottyback if you say I should not feed them any flakes?
I dont just put tapwater in the tank. I mix salt, waterconditioner and water in a bucket and mix mix mix until ALL the salt is gone.
when I got home today from work the tang seemed to be un-blind
Why are the flakes bad for the tang?
The reason there are ANY traces of ammonia, nitrites is because it is at the END of its cycle.

 

[eclipseagent]

I do have a small tang andyup you got it I am moving up to a 75 gallon tank.
The little guy was alright yesterday when I got home.
I believe it was caused by me not airating the newly added water correctly.
Dont gotta flame the newbie anymore
I corrected the salinity.
I checked the water yesterday and the ammonia is still readable but LOW under .003
nitrites are 0
and nitrates are 10
I added some biozyme to make the ammonia - nitrite then nitrite to nitrate
then nitrates to nitrogen.
the tang seems to be in good health again

 

[thakid2u]

Okay I have to reply to this one. I couldnt pass it up......I read somebody said that Mixing Salt the way stated was totally Wrong.
Well NO it's not. It's funny how people had SW tanks setup and had happy fish before all the newer ways surfaced. I to this day still Siphon my water out (suck the crap off the bottom) Dump it in the Toilet (checking for Hitchhikers) and get the old PRIME out and turn the Faucet on. I put the Prime in a 5 Gallon Bucket get the water goin and dump the salt in. Been doin this so long that I dont need a Hydrometer to check myself. As the water runs in the bucket it stirs up the Salt (along with the help of my arm a little). Then take it to the tank and Slowly dump it in. Slowly only for 3 reasons. 1.) So I dont Stir up anything else from bottom. 2.) If I didnt get the temp of the water just right, (No Shock to fish) 3.) and Finally so I dont splash it everywhere. I have had NO problems with Salt Settling at the bottom of the Bucket or my Salinty Jumping around. As Far as using the PRIME I actually have used many different Types of "WATER SAFE", Had the same result with all of them. I just choose PRIME because it comes with a little Dropper that is easier to measure. Okay that's Long Enuff for now, I am sure that I will have to reply to somebody tearing into me about all this.......As far as the NIT's, depending on what you have in there I dont see the Fear of going up to 40 ppm. I had this prob, actually just about a month ago and it was up there I have a EMP, a Pacific, and my Clown, Along with Crabs, and they were all fine and happy. I wouldnt recommend this for to long, as Mine was like this for about 3 weeks, DUE TO A NEW FILTER.

 

[thakid2u]

I agree with you. Although I think some factors come into play here. SIZE of tank, How much of a water change, Species of Fish, Hardness of water, AIR in the Tank already. I have not done as much research as you prob have, but I have done enuff to see the mixed feelings on this. I never do more than a 15% water change. This is in a 55 Gal. I have 2 air stones in the back of the tank. I wasnt trying to say that everything you said wasnt right, but for someone to say that it is totally unacceptable to do it this way is not acceptable in itself. Now if you are doing a 40% or more water change then I would prob let it sit a day or 2 witha piece of LR and an air stone it. My fish actually come up and act like they play in the water that I am dumping, (Playing in the Current).

 

[eclipseagent]

I think it is just that my tang is tired.
My GF said she has noticed it before (before the water change), and that it does it just about every morning (for the first 5 mins when the light is turned on). I probably didnt notice it because when I get up for work I turn on their light, feed them then get into the shower. Right after the water change I got up turned on their light, fed them and watched.
Oh well.

 

[thakid2u]

lol That makes sense.....Guess I dont like the lights being turned on Bright as hell first thing in the morning.